DENVER, Colo. — Close, but no cigar.

In the final Denver edition of the Rocky Mountain Showdown, Colorado State football looked nothing like the team that went 3-9 in 2018 and lost to their bitter rivals by 32.

CSU went blow for blow with the Colorado Buffaloes for most of the game Friday night, matching the PAC-12 program with each score. In the end, CU’s offense proved to be a little bit too much for CSU’s defense to handle, though, as the Buffs outlasted the Rams, 52-31.

Dante Wright can fly

Playing in his first-ever collegiate game, freshman wide receiver Dante Wright came out with a bang. Wright hauled in a 39-yard touchdown reception on CSU’s opening drive of the game — the first catch of his career. He also rushed for a 41-yard score late in the second quarter, temporarily giving CSU its first lead — though, it was short lived as the Buffs immediately responded with a scoring drive of their own.

In total, Wright finished the night with four receptions for 72 yards and one receiving touchdown. On the ground, the true freshman added three carries for a team-high 59 yards and another score.

Listed at 5-foot-10, 165 pounds, Wright is easy to lose on a field full of massive individuals. As the Buffs found out, though, Wright is not a player that defenses can afford to sleep on. Wright has electric speed and the Rams can get the ball in his hands in a variety of ways — look for the former Florida preps star to play a big role in CSU’s offense this season.

“Dante Wright has been producing all of fall camp. Guys that are productive are going to play,” head coach Mike Bobo said. “He’s fearless — like his momma told me in recruiting, she said ‘Dante is special’ — and he is special. He’s a great kid, great young man. He did a great job tonight.”

Rams will live or die on Collin Hill

Collin Hill is finally healthy — and as we saw Friday night, the redshirt junior quarterback has potential to be really good for the Rams in 2019.

“I thought Collin looked great,” Bobo said.

Hill looked smooth at the line of scrimmage, confidently making pre-snap reads and calling out adjustments to his lineman. On multiple throws, Hill displayed excellent touch, perfectly placing the ball in the hands of his receivers.

“He was going to his second and third receivers and dumping the ball to the backs,” Bobo said. “We shot ourselves in the foot, offensively, with turnovers. Other than that, we moved the ball but moving the ball is one thing — we gotta put points on the board. We knew we were going to have to put up some points against this offense and we didn’t score enough.”

Unfortunately, for CSU, Hill did force a ball into double coverage in the second quarter and had another pass intercepted off a deflection in the third. But for the most part, Hill looked as good if not better than the young QB that won over much of the Ram Faithful in 2016, before tearing his ACL twice.

“It’s unfortunate, on the first pick, the safety made a great play,” Bobo said. “I thought he threw a good ball and it was just six inches off from Warren and the safety made a great play. The second interception was just a tipped ball — one of those things that happen. The fumble down there for six points was a missed protection — the back didn’t block the backer and we had the slant we wanted.”

In total, Hill completed 28-of-42 passes for 348 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers

The Rams fought hard Friday night but it was the little mistakes that killed them in the end. Between penalties keeping CU’s drives alive and four turnovers on offense, CSU really shot themselves in the foot.

“It’s hard to beat anybody when you turn the ball over four times and you lose the turnover ratio 4:0,” Bobo said. “I will say this, our team played their ass off — they played hard. We didn’t make the plays when we had to and they did. We had some opportunities.”

Colora(o) State vs. Colora(0)

There wasn’t much ‘D’ in the contest as CSU and CU set a new series record with 83 combined points.

The defense did show glimpses, particularly in the first half. Missed tackles really hurt CSU in the third and fourth quarters, though. The Rams will look to correct these mistakes in the Week 2 matchup against Western Illinois, before wrapping up non-conference play against Arkansas and Toledo.

“Defensively, I thought we played with heart and energy,” Bobo said. “We missed too many tackles. They did a nice job of running the ball between the tackles… There were some positives but obviously tackling is going to be the main issue and we blew the coverage on the one touchdown to Laviska Shenault.”

The Rams will return to action on September 7 against Western Illinois. Kickoff at Canvas Stadium is slated for 2:00 p.m. MT.